Blogs from Oceania - page 7087

Apologies for delay in blog. Lack of access to internet and too much fun has delayed things. Wednesday 17th May Have just realised that Hugh and Katie have birthdays this weekend coming …and Nigel’s is looming too! Ah well. Anyway, back to the blog. 8th - 16th May Alice Springs…centre of Australia… an amazing spot with the most fantastic hosts in the famous Farkies. I know the many who came before us will sigh in memory of barbies and hikes in Simpson’s Gap, Stanley chasm, Wiggley’s Hole, the desert park, the reptile centre (where Rachel worked and Hugh was persuaded to wrap an olive python round his body even after being advised that heat makes them tighten their grip. Those who know Hugh well are aware of his heat control problem so this was a true ... read more

bday at cott beach... read more

I'm afraid, I've left it too long to write up these days in my diary, so I'm gonna have to keep it to bullet points and leave the photos to tell the story, since my memory is already loosing the details.... Got picked up by Lionel, my tour guide for the next 3 days camping in Kakadu National Park. Lionel turned out to be the most amazing guide, he's half aboriginal and has lived in kakadu for 4 years, so knew everything there was to know about the whole place. We had a great time eating kangaroo stir fry, swimming under waterfalls, catching frillied neck lizards, grabbing handfuls of catfish whilst in the waterholes, checking out 50,000year old artwork and getting stoned and playing the digeredoo - believe me, if there's one instrument that really takes ... read more

Taking my cue from a map in the hostel depicting interesting sights in the area, I made a beeline for Mount Frankland, a modest peak (~400m) about 30km north of Walpole that apparently offered a commanding view of the countryside. It didn't seem as though anyone had done the hiking trail that circled its base for many moons, judging by the amount of vegetation that had grown over the path. Not for the first time, I was to regret not bringing my machete from home. The view from the top consisted of trees in all directions. I then paid a visit to Circular Pool, into which some gentle rapids flowed, but it was otherwise roundly unremarkable. There was a big thrill of anticipation, a massive frisson in fact, as I approached the Giant Tingle tree. Many ... read more

Towards the end of my stay in Australia, I was thinking I would need to do an adventure of some kind in that country before my departure from it. So where should I go? Indeed, just months before June 2006, I started to explore some options, such as going to Karijini National Park in Western Australia. However, I soon realised that I was facing a number of constraints that would prevent me from going that far. I had to find a trip that would be i) within my budget and ii) easily accessible by public transport (as I don't drive). So some time around May I had read something about the Indian-Pacific Railway, which travels across Australia. Promptly I started wondering whether I should try this one. So I began some research, and not much ... read more